P.A.D.S. | Eucharistic Ministry | Food Pantry | Missions
Community Outreach
The Saint Mary's Parish family engages in a number of outreach activities designed to support and enrich the community in which we we live, work, and worship. We invite you to join us in building and sustaining the ministries briefly described below. To learn more about how you can contribute to or be served by any of these ministries, please contact the Parish Office.
P.A.D.S.
From
the DuPage Pads Vision Statement: "DuPage
P.A.D.S. is recognized in DuPage County for providing temporary shelter,
transitional and permanent housing for people without homes. We design,
implement and manage programs and services for men, women and children who
are homeless. We encourage responsibility and offer opportunities for
self sufficiency.We advocate against barriers that cause homelessness. We
share knowledge with the community. Vital to this commitment is our
collaboration with religious and community groups in DuPage County."
Every Thursday from October to April, St. Mary's parishioners participate in the ecumenical program of P.A.D.S. located in West Chicago. St. Mary's Parish is responsible for providing breakfast, a sack lunch, and dinner on the first Thursday of each month. Volunteers are needed to prepare these meals, as well as to do laundry and supervise activities at the site every Thursday.
Eucharistic Ministry to Shut-Ins
Parishioners
are invited to reach out to the homebound through visits and sharing of the
Eucharist, to ensure that the homebound and the sick stay connected to the
St. Mary's Parish community.
Food Pantry
St. Mary's participates in the
Northwest DuPage
Walk-In Ministry, and
is
one of three sites of this consortium of DuPage County churches that
provides food and limited financial assistance to those in need. The St.
Mary's Food Pantry serves residents of West Chicago, Winfield and
Warrenville. The facility is located on Garden Street, in the building
behind the church.
Missions
St. Mary's parish regularly participates in the Diocese of Joliet's Medical Mission, as well as its Catholic Construction Corps Mission. Parishioners participating in these missions have traveled to Bolivia and Ecuador. Our missionaries have also participated in missions based in the United States, working at natural disaster sites, at local home repair sites within the diocese, and with the Navajo nation in the southwest.
"In
response to the Gospel Call of Jesus Christ, the Joliet Diocese Partnership
In Mission seeks to form servants for the work of missions and justice as we
reach out in service, relief, and friendship to our brothers and sisters
around the globe." 
